Father
by musicality84
Summary: It was an accident. He never wanted this to happen, ever. Now Tony is forced to come to terms with being a father with Howard's shadow hanging over him.


Hey! So this little beauty hit at about four o clock this morning and wouldn't let me sleep till it had been written. I've only seen the movies, never read the comics, so I don't know if Tony ever had a kid in the comic 'verse. Also, not entirely sure if JARVIS still exists after the second movie, but in my head canon he does, because I can't imagine him not being part of this. If there are any mistakes/glaring errors, I blame it on writing this way too early in the morning to be healthy :) Nevertheless, please inform me so I can fix them. Hope you enjoy!

PS Let me know if you guys would like an expanded version with more detailed scenes etc and I'll give it a go.

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It's an accident. Neither of them ever meant for it to happen. When Pepper tells him, it's the biggest fight they have ever had. He tries every argument he can think of. He yells, he begs, he pleads, but Pepper is adamant. She is keeping it. The argument ends only when she tells him calmly, matter-of-fact, that he must come to terms with it or she will leave him. He recoilas if he's been shot, because he can see in her eyes that this is no empty threat, and that stings. But this is Pepper, and he can't bear the thought of being without her, he will pay any price to keep her safe, happy, and by his side. So he agrees, reluctantly, to keep it, the words feeling like ash on his tongue.

Over the next few months, he throws himself into any project, any mission he can get his hands on. He spends hours in the garage tinkering with his suits, building new gear for the Avengers. He upgrades and reupgrades until his teammates beg him to stop. It's enough, Tony, really. So he works on his cars until they are so damn shiny and clean even he can't find anything else to do with them. He goes on every Avengers mission he can possibly justify, even the little runs for the new recruits, anything to avoid seeing Pepper puking her guts out every morning, to see her belly swelling up like she has some horrible disease, to see that thing taking over her body.

But he can't stay away all the time. After a particularly difficult mission, the team is so tired and beaten down that Tony invites them to the tower to rest and recover. The team is ecstatic through their fatigue. It seems all they can talk about on the way there is seeing Pepper, and how is she, and it won't be long now, and isn't it wonderful? Pepper greets them cheerfully when they arrive. Clint is chatting with Pepper about parenting, and Natasha is apparently trying to engage in conversation with her stomach, and Thor is laughing his big booming laugh and making speeches about the miracle of life, and Tony wants to tell them all to just shut the hell up. But instead he hangs on the fringes of the activity with Steve and Bruce and plasters what must be a very stiff looking grin on his face, judging by the sideways looks he's getting from the two.

They clean up and order in for dinner, and jeez it's really scary how much food Pepper is packing away now that she can actually eat again. They're all laying about on the floor and sofa after dinner, watching a movie, when Pepper suddenly gasps. Before he can ask what's wrong, she grabs his hand and places it on her belly. He stiffens in surprise when he feels it because that's a _foot_. He yanks his hand back, feeling ill. He steps over the limbs of his confused teammates and leaves the room, trying not to see Pepper's crumpled face.

Steve finds him later that night, after everyone has gone to bed, sitting on a sofa next to the bar, glass tumbler in one hand and mostly empty bottle of scotch in the other. He has to tiptoe carefully through the room over the remains of several smashed bottles. The floor is wet and sticky under his feet. He sits down next to Tony and listens while he rants and rails. Tony never wanted this, he never asked to be a father, I don't want to be a father! Then, without warning, there are tears in Tony's eyes and he's talking about Howard. In the end, Steve finds himself with his arms around Tony's shoulders, rubbing gently while the drunken man mumbles like a mantra, "I don't want to be my father. I don't want to be my father" until he falls asleep, scotch bottle falling from his fingers. Steve stays where he's at even though his arm is going numb. He barely notices anyway, and he prays for what must be the first time since he came out of the ice.

In the morning, Steve wakes to the sound of liquor bottles being methodically dumped into the garbage. Neither of them say anything when he joins Tony, the liquid crash of the bottles becoming an offbeat duet. As the sun rises in the sky, the rest of the team trickles in one by one. Without saying a word, they begin plucking glass shards from the floor. Late that night, Tony crawls in to bed beside Pepper. He ignores her surprise when he curls up with one ear on her belly, one hand placed gently on top. Pepper cries softly and strokes his hair, and the AA chip between his hand and her belly is a promise, or at least the beginning of one.

They decide not to find out what it is until the birth. Tony brings in the best medical team he can find and hovers awkwardly until Pepper orders him from the room. He doesn't even bother to hide his relief. He calls in Bruce, because he needs someone there with him, and he trusts Bruce with his life and, apparently, his family. Bruce, when he arrives, calls in the rest of the team because he knows what Tony needs, even if Tony doesn't. Tony paces the floor anxiously, threatening to wear a groove in the marble, until Bruce sits him down and runs him through some relaxation techniques. Natasha comes up behind him and kneads the tension from his shoulders. The surprise is almost (almost) enough to distract him, because really, who knew? Clint starts recounting some of their funnier battle stories at some point, and then they're all chipping in as one or the other or all of them recall some of their times together. Pretty soon they're all laughing and jibing at each other. It comes as a surprise then when JARVIS cuts in and quietly informs Tony that he has a daughter.

He's up in a heartbeat and nearly runs to the room where Pepper is. Speaking of heartbeats, his own is pounding so badly, he wonders if it's finally going to give out. He steps into the room and Pepper meets his eyes. The joy is obvious in her face despite the exhaustion that is clear in every line of her body. She smiles at him and turns her gaze to something in her arms that is so small and red that it can't possibly be a human being, can it? He approaches like a wild cat, quiet and cautious, as if moving too loudly or quickly will harm the tiny thing. Pepper laughs quietly and beckons him close, and then before he can do anything about it, the little body is in his trembling hands. He tries to still the shaking, scared he might drop the baby, and looks down into his daughter's face. He sees her eyes and it feels like gravity and he's laughing and crying at the same time, how does that even happen?

He returns to the living room once Pepper and the baby are asleep to find the room decorated with pink ribbon and streamers. There is a pink frosted cake on the table and Clint is brandishing bottles of sparkling cider. He wonders aloud how they knew to get pink, and they admit they bought blue stuff too, even the cake, so he better eat plenty. Tony makes a face at the sparkling cider, wishing briefly for real champagne, but the stuff disappears quickly because, actually, it's pretty good and nobody cares anyway. Tony's sure he'll have bruises in the morning from all the slaps on the back, particularly the ones from Thor, which feel like they might have dented his spine.

They name her Victoria, Tori for short. Tony beams proudly when he takes her to the workshop and introduces her to her siblings. The bots are excruciatingly gentle as they examine her, under threat of disassembly from Tony if they harm her. It nearly breaks his heart when Dum-E ever so gently places a pacifier in her mouth. He takes a couple months off from missions to help Pepper with the newborn. Tony usually gets up in the middle of the night when she cries, because he's used to not sleeping anyway. He's used to having nightmares of his own. He still dreams of Afghanistan and the Chitauri, but recently his most terrifying dreams have been dreams of Tori, stiff and cold in his arms. He holds her in the middle of the night, feeling her warm softness in his hands and feeling guilty because part of him is happy when she cries. They comfort each other in the dark parts of the night.

When he starts flying missions with the team again, there is a new quality to his work. He's still as snarky and confident as ever, but there is a new edge there, because now she is what he fights for. He has been a father for nearly four years when someone makes the fatal mistake of kidnapping Tori. The Avengers all go with him, of course they do, but there is almost nothing for them to do except give thanks that they are with Tony and not against him as he tears the world down to get her back. When he finally has Tori safe and unharmed in his arms, they don't even bother to hide their relief. He takes off his suit and flies home with them in the quinjet. He holds Tori close the entire time, whispering softly in her ear while she buries her head in his shoulder. Steve thinks he hears, "Daddy loves you" over and over amid the whispered promises to keep her safe.

Tori talks constantly, clearly having inherited her father's gift for speech. Various people ask her what she wants to be when she grows up, in that obnoxiously condescending voice they use when speaking to children. Tony wants to tell them to stop patronizing her, as if her thoughts and dreams are any less valuable just because she's young. She expresses interest in various outlandish careers like princess, and cowgirl, but she also expresses interest in things like veterinarian, and teacher. It startles Tony when he realizes that it doesn't matter to him one bit what she decides to do. The realization leaves him hysterically happy, because he knows what it's like to have your parents' expectations hanging over your head, and he'll be damned if he ever lets Tori feel that way.

Of course, however much he wishes to be, he's not perfect. Their relationship has its speed bumps. In her teens, it's clear that not only has she inherited her father's gift for speech, she's also inherited his ego, and when the two of them clash, Pepper knows it's best to stand back and watch the fireworks, and try to put out the fires after it's over. During a particularly nasty argument, Tony is devastated to hear himself tell Tori to just shut up and listen for once, this is why he didn't want kids in the first place! He wishes he could take the words back as soon as they are out of his mouth, but it's too late. She screams and slams the door and she's gone. JARVIS keeps an eye on her through the phone she carries with her, assuring Tony and Pepper that she is safe and sound, but he won't tell them where. Normally Tony would accuse JARVIS of being a traitor, but he's so consumed by his own misery that he just curls up on the sofa with is head in Pepper's lap. She listens silently while he berates himself for becoming Howard after all. She doesn't insult him by telling him that it's alright. Instead, she tells him that Howard would never have made things right afterward like Tony was obviously going to do, right Tony? Tori comes back two days later, finding Tony in his workshop. Because he's Tony Stark, and she's his daughter, neither of them mention their argument. Instead, she joins him and they work silently together, but it is a warm silence, and there is love in the looks they give, in the tools they share, in their steady companionship, and they know it will be alright.

Tori is as adept at machinery and robotics as her father, but in the end she decides to apply her talents to being a doctor. She wants to help develop new technology for healthcare. It is fitting, the daughter of a weapons designer turned superhero, saving lives in her own way. Tony couldn't be more proud.

When Tony's heart finally starts to give out, he's still far too young, but it's only to be expected considering the abuse it's taken over the years. Tori, in her late teens and well on her way to achieving her dreams, emulates her father by spending hours in the workshop, trying to invent something that will save him, only to succumb to fits of rage when she realizes that there's nothing she can do. Bruce, Steve, Thor, Clint, and Natasha fly out to be with him. They haven't done missions together in years. In fact most of them are retired now, though they still lend a hand to the new generation of Avengers. Steve runs the operation, taking Fury's place as director. Rhodey comes too, and Tony is happy knowing that his family is there with him.

He spends his last few days drifting in and out of a medication induced stupor. He is never alone, there is always someone by his side. Once, near the end, he awakens to Bruce sitting next to him, holding his hand. Steve is standing behind him.

"How did I do?" he asks, voice slurred with pain and drugs and fatigue.

Steve knows what he means. "You were a good father, Tony," he says. Simple. Honest.

When the time comes, it is late in the night. Pepper is asleep on the sofa at the foot of his bed. Tori sits beside him, holding his hand. He looks at her and he knows that she knows. Tears slide down her cheeks as she leans close. She kisses his cheek and rubs his forehead, waiting with him.

"I love you, daddy," she whispers in his ear.

He sighs with contentment and closes his eyes.


End file.
